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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26909434">Azure</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radikal_and_Friedrich/pseuds/Radikal_and_Friedrich'>Radikal_and_Friedrich</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mafia (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, M/M, Paulie and Sam deserve better, Sam is a bastard, Unrequited Love, translation russian, unspoken feelings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:55:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>802</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26909434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radikal_and_Friedrich/pseuds/Radikal_and_Friedrich</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing Paulie remembers after he first met Sam is his azure eyes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sam Trapani/Paulie Lombardo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Azure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>English is not my native language. This work was written in Russian and then translated. If you find a mistake, please add it in your comment.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The only thing Paulie remembers after he first met Sam is his azure eyes. Those eyes glow with cold fire, burn through, getting into the secret corners of the soul, and look so intently, as if they are trying to pour a stream of ice water on him in response to every meaningless joke. The last thing is impossible because Paulie feels like a sinner roasting on a fire when he meets Sam's glare.</p><p>The next meetings and a couple of joint assignments do not change anything. Paulie just keeps rattling and talking nonsense, and Sam just looks at him from under his bushy eyebrows and tells him to shut up. Paulie doesn't need to obey — after all, without his witticisms, they would fall asleep in this old barn or freeze to death.</p><p>
It takes Paulie eight months to realize that Sam never smiles. He politely covers his eyes accepting an assignment from Salieri, twitches the corner of his lips saying compliments to women, grins when the guys in the bar tell funny stories from life, but never smiles. Paulie's jokes cause him to sigh in exasperation, and in rare cases, say <i>“Quiet and quick”</i> between greeted teeth. Sam doesn't ask for another partner — not because he's afraid of angering Salieri, but because he is okay with Paulie. At least, that's what Paulie hopes.</p><p>It takes a few more years for Paulie to realize that Sam isn't as cold-blooded asshole as he pretends. They rarely talk about life — the life before the family — so getting some information out of Sam becomes Paulie's number one task. He doesn't know where he was born, who his parents were, what Sam's past and present are. All he knows is the brand of cigarettes Sam smokes, his favorite booze, and that Sam likes movies.</p><p>That night, when they broke into the cinema hall in the middle of a movie to get away from the chase, Paulie found out for the first time that Sam has a nice laugh. They were watching <i>Seventh Heaven</i>, and while Paulie were biting his lip nervously and turning his head around, Sam lounged in the chair next to him, watching the silent figures moving in the frame with interest. Periodically, he chuckled out of place, and this thick melodic sound made Paulie finally relax completely.</p><p>The night Sam gets shot Paulie realizes that he knows <i>too little</i> about him. Sam's wide chest heaves under his palms, blood oozes from the wound between numb fingers and his discolored lips whisper something that Paulie can't make out. He keeps joking again, stupid and almost cynical, and praying to all the gods he knows to keep Sam safe. And the Gods, who are merciful even to sinners like Paulie, hear him. While Sam clenches his teeth in frustration, content with a mild anesthetic, Doc pulls the bullet out of him and stitches up a deep gash in his stomach like a hole in a coat. Paulie lies on the floor next to Sam, who is shaking with pain, all night and thinks only that his friend's azure eyes have never been so colorless gray as they were today.</p><p>He would rather not know this thing.</p><p>Paulie doesn't know at what point his whole life becomes meaningless. Tommy marries Sarah, happily informs his friends about her pregnancy, and performs more and more complex assignments for Salieri, which he would never have assigned to a simple taxi driver. Sam buys new suits, goes to the movies every two weeks, and still rolls his eyes listening to the stupid jokes and unnecessary chatter. Paulie… Paulie drinks liters of tasteless whiskey, risks his neck, covering for friends, and visits the <i>Blue Tropics</i>. He doesn't care about the cheap whores serving him in the back room, or the expensive ones lying on silk sheets next to Sam in the <i>Corleone hotel</i>. As he hands the girl the crumpled bill and hastily buttons up his jacket, Paulie doesn't want to think about why the damn name of the damn brothel reminds him of Sam's damn eyes.</p><p>When two thugs barge into his apartment, Paulie doesn't have time to say a word. Life does not flash before his eyes. The images of the Holy Virgin Mary and Jesus do not arise. The last thing Paulie sees is a flash of searing azure and a wide cold grin.</p><p>Paulie will never know the taste of Sam's lips when he drinks his favorite whiskey.</p><p>Paulie will never know that Salieri gave Sam a new assignment last night.</p><p>Paulie will never know that Sam, after killing him with the help of his guys, goes to kill Tommy.</p><p>Paulie will never know that Sam will be shot in a few hours.</p><p>Paulie will never know that Sam will die with Paulie's name on his lips.</p>
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